TheiPhone8BottleneckThatCouldDelayItsLaunch

Here’s the iPhone 8 bottleneck that could delay the launch of Apple’s next flagship device, according to AppleInsider.

According to Cowen and Company’s Timothy Arcuri, yield issues remain for Cupertino’s next flagship device due to production difficulties with the new Touch ID.

In a note to investors, the analyst writes:

For the 5.8-inch OLED version, the biggest bottleneck remains integrating an under-glass fingerprint sensor into the display— the current yield rate of Apple’s in-house AuthenTec solution remains low and AAPL seems unwilling to use other vendors’ products.

It’s rumored that the iPhone 8 (or “iPhone Edition“) will be the first Apple handset not to include a physical home button. Instead, the smartphone may introduce a “function area” built into the glass.

According to Arcuri, if yields don’t improve, Apple could be left with three choices:

The first option, which he admits is unlikely is to ditch Touch ID and rely solely on facial recognition.

Apple could instead move Touch ID to the backside of the phone, as competing fingerprint scanners do, but Arcuri said this is not user friendly.